2000 Seadoo Challenger - Major problems

[James Murray]

Hi, We have a year 2000 Seadoo Challenger and it has been a bit of a nightmare since owning it!


Basically the engines seem to work OK when out of the water, but when we take it down to a lake or the sea they are extremely unreliable and struggle to run for a minute? Eventually either one or both of them refuse to even turn on at all? We are pulling our hair out with this boat.

We literally got home from a complete failure of a day with it, and both engines are running fine again out of the water..(obviously we are running water through it to avoid damage)

We are so confused?

 

[Albysure]

Hi, We have a year 2000 Seadoo Challenger and it has been a bit of a nightmare since owning it!


Basically the engines seem to work OK when out of the water, but when we take it down to a lake or the sea they are extremely unreliable and struggle to run for a minute? Eventually either one or both of them refuse to even turn on at all? We are pulling our hair out with this boat.

We literally got home from a complete failure of a day with it, and both engines are running fine again out of the water..(obviously we are running water through it to avoid damage)

We are so confused?

Everything runs great on the trailer....First do a compression test.... If that checks out good which it should because I don't see both motors at the same loosing compression...the carbs need rebuilt and the fuel pumps if they are external....replace both fuel filters....just sounds like you have a fuel issue with that hard start under load...no matter what I did with one of my carbs I had the same issue...had it rebuilt 4 times and dealer once tryed....ended buying a new one for $189.00....

 

[skatefarmer]

Everything runs great on the trailer....First do a compression test.... If that checks out good which it should because I don't see both motors at the same loosing compression...the carbs need rebuilt and the fuel pumps if they are external....replace both fuel filters....just sounds like you have a fuel issue with that hard start under load...no matter what I did with one of my carbs I had the same issue...had it rebuilt 4 times and dealer once tryed....ended buying a new one for $189.00....

Hi, We had the compression tested on both engines, which both have readings of 40%, is this good? or bad?

Thank you.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Hi, We had the compression tested on both engines, which both have readings of 40%, is this good? or bad?

Thank you.

40% of what?

Normally compression is in PSI (per square inch) readings. 150 psi is perfect. 120 psi means you need work. 135 is ok. 130 and you may start to see some minor run-ability issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[skatefarmer]

OK Thank you,

I will relay that info to the mechanic and see what he says.

 

[skatefarmer]

Hi,

So one engine's compression is 115 PSI. The other engine is reading 125 PSI

 

[LouDoo]

I'm more than a little confused with this thread.

1. Is James Murray and skatefarmer one in the same?

2. If so is this a 2000 or a 1998 Challenger?

3. If this is a 2000 Challenger, what is the power, Mercury or Rotax?

Please clarify before this thread gets out of hand. It's just too confusing two different users with two different problems.

Lou

 

[skatefarmer]

Sorry, Yes It is me, James Murray / Skatefarmer, I signed up and then signed in by facebook so it says different name.

It is a year 2000

The power is Rotax, twin get engines, 85hp each

 

[LouDoo]

O.K., I'm going to delete the user James Murray, I'll wait until this thread is finished. I'm still a little confused, I could be wrong but I think a 2000 Challenger 1800 was Mercury powered, but I guess you know what you have.

It sounds like the engine with 115psi is just tired and ready for a rebuild, and the engine with 125psi is not far behind.

Ideal compression is 150psi, 120 or less its time for a rebuild.

Lou

 

[JamesHBCA]

Sounds like the same boat as mine, a 14.5 foot twin 85 HP Rotax Challenger. The confusion is Seadoo changing the name of the 14.5 boats over the years. It was originally called a Speedster and the Challenger was a much larger boat. Seadoo never put the Mercury in the 14.5 boat but they did put them in the large Challengers.

Does it run for a Long time on the trailer with water cooling or are you just running for a minuet or two?

I agree with Lou, it may be time for a rebuild. My compression is 150 psi all cylinders

 

[Coastiejoe]

If the compression test numbers are accurate,, you are pretty much done. Exactly as Lou stated. At 120 it is considered to need internal engine work and in many cases will not start in the water due to the load of the impeller.

 

[Guest_User]

85HP engines are not the 787`s, sounds like he has 717`s...